The present invention relates to drones, and more particularly to using drones for collecting and managing waste.
This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention disclosed below. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived, implemented or described. Therefore, unless otherwise explicitly indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In developing countries, a complex infrastructure does not exist for routine waste collection or collection/separation of recyclable items. As such, it is common for waste to pile up in locations where high densities of people reside. Furthermore, the recyclables are typically not separated from the trash, which can both add to the volume of trash, and add burdens to public health.
In several developing countries (such as Kenya) and in Indian cities, generally waste collection happens after several complaints have been filled by residents or after an incident has occurred. Once reported, collection of the waste is often slow, sometimes due to socio-economic issues, due to behavior issues, or due to infrastructural challenges. Several millions of dollars have been spent by donors and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in partnership with local governments to fix the problem. However, the situation remains unresolved, in part due to the rapid population growth in certain locations of these countries.
As a result, waste collection services may be limited to individual collectors manually picking up waste from households and businesses, which is at times not possible due to poor road infrastructure and weather conditions, e.g., the yearly floods in Nairobi.
Furthermore, traditional waste collection systems used in developed economies, such as garbage trucks and formal sewer networks, are difficult to build for low-income and similar areas in developing cities, largely due to unplanned, rapid urbanization.
The lack of access to basic sanitation, including toilets, is an issue in many developing countries, particularly in areas of high population density. In several countries, waste is placed in black polythene bags and disposed of on rooftops, dumping sites and drainage trenches, where the piles of bags attract flies, burst open upon impact and/or clog drainage systems. Furthermore, this waste can pollute water supplies causing diseases such as diarrhea, skin disorders, typhoid fever and malaria. An example of such waste disposal is the flying toilet concept: See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_toilet.
A low-tech solution to the disposal of waste is the Peepoo bag (costing two or three cents each), a biodegradable plastic bag that serves as a single-use toilet for individuals in the developing world. After the bag is used and buried in the ground, urea crystals coating the bag sterilize the solid human waste and break it down into fertilizer for crops. See, e.g., en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_toilet.
Due to densely populated nature of some areas, it is difficult for garbage collection trucks to access the collection locations causing a huge sanitation problem. In particular, during raining season it is almost impossible to access such locations.
It would be beneficial to address these issues.